Younger Heart. Eleni Era

Two years ago Eleni Era debuted on the pages of WoNoBlog with her first album, 'Rise Love'. It met with musical acclaim and not just in writing, as the music popped up regularly in Wino's radioshow Kairos as well over the past two years. Come 2021 and there's a new album, Younger Heart and of course I took a listen. Not long after many more.

Re-reading my review of Rise Love, something I usually do not, I notice something that could be called disconcerting, but is not. I promise you. With changes in the details only, I could copy/paste it here and now and it would make perfect sense for Younger Heart and do it right as well. Yes, Eleni Era made her new album with the same producers, on Cyprus and many songs have that same ethereal, mystic quality the songs on her debut album had. Usually that would tend towards signs of inertia. Not here. Younger Heart is a step forward and let's go into that.

For one, in several of her songs, Eleni Era moves deeper into the 70s, musically touching on the soft singer-songwriter pop of the likes of Christopher Cross or James Taylor, while finding her inner Barbra Streisand vocally. She does not have the depth of Ms. Streisand's unique voice, but even if she had, it would be out of place in her soft and delicate songs. She does find the right singing technique as for example in the title song of the album and 'Deceived'.

Copy/pasting would also make me miss the slow bossanova rhythm of the Greek sung 'The Hunt'. In this slow song the triphop elements in her music are mixed with Bebel Gilberto's modern bossanova. It gives the song a  flavour of its own, making it stand out on the album. The combinations Eleni Era creates makes Younger Heart very much a modern album but with strategically placed rear view mirrors, so all can see into the past and hear what reaches us in the here and now.

Promo photo: Filep Motwary

So all who are familiar with 'Rise Love' will recognise familiar musical elements but with ease will fall into the mood of Younger Heart. Spending time with the album will translate into musical quality time. Also, Younger Heart is an album to sink into, to surrender to and just listen. Nothing else is required to enjoy it. No moving, no dancing, no nothing else. This is just music and time spent between you and Eleni Era's music and voice. Time to spot the nuances put into the songs and the changes between them that you can follow. Whether that is the soft, mellow jazzy 50s sound of 'Bells' or the more Agnes Obel oriented 'Psyche', each song holds it own.

With Younger Heart Eleni Era has added a second album to her oeuvre and another one she can be quite content with. She captured musical beauty she created together with the musicians serving her music. Music waiting for you to discover it. Let me not hold you up any longer than strictly necessary to convince you here.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Younger Heart here:

https://eleniera.bandcamp.com/album/younger-heart

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g